Mississippi the poorest state in the union, proposed Bill to increase the cigarette tax to a $1 a pack (from 18 cents, 3rd lowest in the nation) and cut the 7% grocery tax in half. The Bill passed the House in February 2007 but remains bottled up in the State Senate Finance Committee which is friendly to Governor Haley Barbour (a former tobacco lobbyist) who opposes the Bill. (Adam Nossiter, The New York Times, 3/7/2007)